Doctor-patient interaction

Communication between doctor and patient is a key success factor in medical treatment, which makes it a popular study object. Trials usually take place in a lab, which may or may not be a permanent facility. Research in hospitals or nursing homes is common as well. Sometimes researchers observe patients in their homes, because many patients are treated there. In every setting, behavior is recorded on video and analyzed afterwards with The Observer^® XT and Theme™.

Patients sometimes feel anxious when entering the consultation room. Researchers monitor physiological data streams along with the video, to assess the patient’s emotions in their behavioral context. The Observer XT is used to keep all their data in sync. This software tool is especially designed to synchronously record and play multiple modalities, like video and physiological signals. Nonverbal and verbal behavior can be coded with The Observer XT.  

Interesting publications

Diverse scientific articles citing Noldus products are published in renowned journals each week. The following list is only a small selection of the most recent published scientific articles in different research fields: doctor-patient communication, nursing studies, patient education, pain research, gerontology, etc.  

• Bensing, J.M.; Verheul, W.; Dulmen, A.M. van (2008). Patient anxiety in the medical encounter. Health education, 108 (5), 373-383.
• Connor, M.; Fletcher, I.; Salmon, P. (2008). The analysis of verbal interaction sequences in dyadic clinical communication: A review of methods. Patient Education and Counseling, doi:10.1016/j.pec.2008.10.006  
• Fazio, S.; Mitchell, D.B. (2009). Persistence of self in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence from language and visual recognition. Dementia, 8 (1), 39-59.
• Meeuwesen, L.; Brink-Muinen, A. van den; Hofstede, G. (2009). Can dimensions of national culture predict cross-national differences in medical communication? Patient Education and Counseling, 75, 58-66.